Overview

Director: Professor David Benyon

In 2006 the HCI group changed its name to the Centre for Interaction Design (previously Human Computer Interaction) to better represent the research of its members where increasingly the emphasis is on new methods of interaction design and new paradigms and modalities of interaction within a wide range of computationally enhanced environments. Current projects include: the Companions project that is focusing on the interaction design of artificial companions; Peach, a coordination action for Presence Research; Speckled Computing that looks forward to the future of ubiquitous computing and wireless sensor networks; Ensemble that looks at computationally enhanced jewellery; and personalisation of automatic teller machines. The centre is also home to research into accessibility and interaction design for the less abled, particularly those with cognitive impairments. The design of soundscapes and haptic interaction are also areas of interest. Michael Smyth hosted the 2006 Summer School for Convivio, the European Network for Interaction Design.

	Current and Recent Projects Biometric Technologies in Self-Service Environments To develop a user-centred biometric technology evaluation framework to reliably and consistently assess the suitability of new technologies for use in the ATM environment. COMPANIONS COMPANIONS is a leading edge project funded by the EU to investigate, design and build artificial companions. Conceptual foundations of HCI When system developers design a computer system (or other information artefact), they must inevitably make judgements as to how to abstract the worksystem and how to represent this abstraction in their designs. Peach Presence Research in Action, ‘Peach’, is a co-ordination action, part of the European Union’s 6th Research and Development Framework Programme in Information Systems Technologies. Peach is a project aimed at coordinating research in Presence across the EU. Speckled Computing To establish a research infrastructure for realising minute (around 1 cubic millimetre) semiconductor specks which can sense, compute and communicate wirelessly. Specks, scattered or sprayed on the person or surfaces, will collaborate as programmable computational networks called specknets.